“I just want the people of Florida to know: We see what you’re going through, and we’re with you,” Biden said, outlining other federal efforts in response to Ian, including the deployment of mobile te
lecommunications equipment to restore cellular service. The Biden administration has sent 2,000 “federal response personnel” to Florida, as well as 400 members of the Army Corps of Engineers who will examine the state of storm-damaged infrastructure like bridges.
The White House also said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was already moving to house storm survivors who lost their homes to Ian’s punishing winds and rains. “Every single minute counts,” Biden said Friday. He said he had spoken with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida “on multiple occasions” in recent days and with Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina on Friday morning. He also pleaded with South Carolinians to listen to local officials, who have been urging residents of low-lying coastal areas to evacuate.
Biden was a senior senator from Delaware when Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana, catching both local officials and then-President George W. Bush by surprise. Seven years later, as the vice president of the United States, Biden watched as President Obama responded to Superstorm Sandy with widely-praised compassion.
Now, as president, Biden is dealing with the most powerful hurricane to have come along during his administration. And even as he vowed that help would flow from Washington as long as necessary, he acknowledged that the scenes of devastation emerging from Florida were difficult to see — and will, for many, be just as difficult to forget.Listen